After Hours
by LoorTheDarkElf
Summary: Jak and Daxter find themselves installed in Sugar Rush due to the whims of a technologically inclined and obsessed fan who works as a janitor at the arcade. At first it's a fun day at the races, but when Her monkeying with the games threatens her job the boys are faced with possible deletion at the hands of the person who gave them their new life in the first place! M for F-words
1. Sugar Rush

**Hello fanfiction! **How are we doing? Awesome? Awesome. Loor recently (As in last night) saw Wreck it Ralph, and this kinda... well, happened. It's nice to take a break and write something that ISN'T VoW, so let's buckle up and have some fun with something just a little bit different.

This fic should be a lot shorter than any of my usual multi-chapter stories. The summary already says enough, so let's head right into this. People who aren't familiar with me, I put my disclaimer up top and author notes on bottom. So, without further ado, let's DO THIS THING.

**I do not own Jak and Daxter or Wreck it Ralph.**

On

With

The

Fic!

**OWTF! **

**-Insane Fangirl's Productions Presents-  
****After Hours-Sugar Rush**

Jak was sure he was losing his mind, assuming he had a mind to lose.

He was in control.

The very idea was mind-boggling. He was standing in the mobile race garage, the room with the TVs and the couches and the windows, self aware and feeling rather peculiar for it. The TVs were off, the windows were blacked out, and he stood alone in the middle of the circle made by the couch that wrapped around the pit in the room. The lights were on, but the place seemed dimmer than it should have been. Turning his head, he could see the doorway from the lounge into the garage proper. He could see the Havoc V12 as if it were waiting for him, the body parts a mixture of Spargus ceramic and Haven laminate, wearing a dark green color with equally dark violet racing stripes.

Standing there he was aware of every breath he actively took, the fact that he was able to take a step of his own will towards the opening to the garage while blinking at it. He wasn't used to being in control. Most heroes from console games weren't; either you were controlled by the player during the game play or acting out cut scenes. When the game was off or outside the system, nothing existed, not even time, like sleep without dreams. The very idea that he was in control of himself felt scary and weird. Still blinking in the dim light, he had to wonder what in hell was going on. Where in the game's story was he? No one else seemed to be here, not even Daxter. There was nothing outside of the windows to give him a location, and the room seemed eerily quiet.

Almost dead.

A brief fear struck him; was his disk damaged? Was his game broken? Even as the thought passed through him, he dismissed it. If that were true there was nothing he could do about it. Instead he took his new liberation to step up to the other door in the room; the one that led to the outside. Used by Blitz for surprise interviews, and by Sig when he joined the races, this door was the first obvious choice for figuring out what was going on here.

The door was blocked; the latch wouldn't move and a ram with a shoulder did nothing to un-stick it. He gave it a second knock just to be sure, wincing at the impact before turning his attention back to the lounge. He wasn't sure what to think, staring with disbelief at a scene from his game that was clearly outside of game-time.

"Dax?" He asked into the still air. "Keira? Torn? Anybody?"

From under a pillow, a noise came. Reacting quickly with hope and curiosity, Jak found Daxter curled up under one of the couch cushions, rolling over and groaning. "_Ugh_._.._ time to hid the road, Jak?" Daxter asked as his partner pushed the pillow aside. Jak was relieved to find that Daxter looked fine; pants and all. The ottsel shook off his drowsiness, looking around at the room and shuddering a little. "Whoa... what's up with this place?"

"I'm not sure, Dax... it's not a scene and... I don't think there's a player."

"No player?" Daxter blew air between his lips while getting to his feet, straightening the fur on his tail. "There's _gotta_ be a player. Why else would we be on?"

Helplessly, Jak shrugged.

"Jeez, even outside of the regular story you're helpless without me." Daxter finished with his fur and took a leap up to Jak's shoulder, pointing to the open door to the main garage. "Might as well investigate all the obvious stuff first; let's check the garage to see if anyone else is just waking up like we are." The ottsel paused as Jak began to walk, looking to the pitch black windows and blank TVs around the room. "Yikes... well this is the most creepy this room has ever looked... it's like it doesn't have any life..."

"Tell me about it." Jak's voice as little more than a growl of agreement as he passed into the main garage. Again, the lights were on in the mechanically oriented room, but they seemed dimmer than they should have been. The vehicle was on the central elevator, the keys hanging innocently from the ignition. Everything was clean and orderly; the tools were all put away, towels for wiping up oil and grease were folded and sitting in their proper places, everything was perfectly normal... but also abnormal. No one else was in the room, and Jak felt horribly alone and lost without the presence of a player. Daxter may have insisted that there _had_ to be one, but Jak was positive that there wasn't. No one was operating him, nor watching him.

Stepping onto the platform with the vehicle, the elevator gave off a hum as it powered up. Startled and unsure, Jak decided to stay with the car as the elevator began to move down through the circular shaft in the floor. Dressed in his racing duds he was basically unarmed, but he was still tense and ready for anything as the darkness filled in the space between them and the waning lights in the room above.

"Elevator, going down." Daxter muttered. "Creepy factor, going _way_ up."

For some reason, Daxter's commentary made Jak feel a little bit better about what was happening... whatever it was.

Sadly, no amount of cheering up was going to make him ready for what was waiting for him at the bottom. The darkness had grown oppressive in the elevator shaft, and then the tube of metal had opened up into a depressingly dark room built out of stone bricks. The room itself had a strange mix of items used for imprisonment; chains, cages, shackles, the like, and decorations that went with a much more festive setting. There were large cut-outs of cartoon-y clowns and friendly looking animals along the walls, and other toys that seemed to be picked from the same catalog littering the floor right next to the instruments of restriction. Daxter's creepy factor was still climbing; the only good thing about this room was that the heavy door on the other end of it was wide open.

"Alright... can I just point out that our vehicle elevator just dropped us into a dungeon that had a nursery throw up on it?" Daxter asked as they left the room behind, entering a hallway. There were other heavy doors around, all of them closed. One way down the hall led into almost complete darkness. The other way, however, was brighter. Jak decided to follow the light before responding to Dax.

"What do you think... messed up online glitch or fucked up sequel?" He asked, the growing light encouraging him as they traveled the hallway. Eventually there was a set of stairs leading up to another open doorway, this one very bright indeed. There was also other noises now; a sort of general roar that was making both boys quite curious.

"Let's hope neither..." Daxter groaned, either idea being distasteful. Online glitches usually caused rage-quits of players, and a sudden as well as unceremonious shut-down of the system. It was a feeling that could be likened to being knocked out. The latter... well, icky sequels sucked for everyone involved.

The dynamic duo reached the top of the stairs, peeking out to find a cavernous room beyond the landing. It was almost comical in it's size, a steeple ceiling giving the feel of an exaggerated cathedral. Having to actually duck slightly for the doorway, Jak actually felt too tall for once in his existence as he stood up on the other side, noting a long carpet running the length of the room leading up to a throne; this was some kind of royal chamber. It was also worth mentioning...

"What the heck, what's with all the _pink?!" _Daxter groused at the color scheme. _"_And... what the...? Jak, this place smells like a sweets shop in the sun..."

"And sounds like a stadium..." Jak had finally identified the distant roar he'd been hearing before; it was the sound of a crowd. He became determined to seek it out, turning away from the throne to follow the running rug to the far end of the room. "Which means other people."

"I'm really hoping this isn't a sequel..." Daxter groaned, making gagging motions as they passed more and more of the pink décor. "If it is... my God, we're made by crazy people."

"I already kinda figured that, but you're right..." Jak could feel his face twisting in disgust, stepping up his pace. "This is a bit much."

"A _bit?" _The ottsel had one hand fastened around Jak's goggles so he could stand up on his shoulder, as if it would give him a better view of the oppressively pink room. "Jak, even Tess would say this is over the top."

The blond racer was nearly jogging now, getting to the door at the end of the room and gaining confidence from his ears; the sound of the crowd was getting louder. Throwing the heavy door open, he was both eager and scared out of his mind at what he might find.

Again, he wasn't prepared. Not even a little.

"Dax... the hell is this?"

"Brother, I have no idea."

Jak and Daxter were staring out at a world made of candy. The road, the grass growing at the side of the road, the walls around the castle they just walked out of, the castle itself, the gates attached the wall, the trees, simply _everything_ was made of various sweets. Incapable of dreaming, both boys gawked at what they saw as Jak slowly tripped down the road in shock, getting distance while still following his ears for the general roar of a crowd. There were people out here, and not far away. Something would start making sense once they ran into someone they could talk to, right?

Some kind of joke. That's what this had to be. A mod some player had cooked up as a viral joke for the online interaction; gamers were getting more advanced in their shenanigans every day. This had to be some geek expressing their sweet tooth and pissing off the online community for a few hours... or something like that. Nothing else would make sense.

Ahead, things were getting worse. At first Jak had hope; he saw stands, raised platforms covered in festive colors for people to sit and stand. Even better, these stands were arranged around... a racetrack! Yes! Desperate for something familiar, Jak sprinted for this impressive grouping of stands, leaving the road he had been walking on that took a much more winding path. There was a field between here and there, covered in gummy-worm grass, but his wasn't going to let something like that bother him before he got a chance to talk to someone and ask a few questions.

Another familiar sound hit him as he and Daxter got closer; the sound of engines. Jak had to twist his head to see, sighting a pack of racing... karts rounding a bend and heading for the area the stands were arranged around. A cheer went up from the crowd. Jak found himself grinning; even if their creators had gone totally bonkers, Jak felt one just couldn't go wrong with racing. That was just the way he was made.

What he wasn't made for was the living pieces of candy filling the stands, jumping up and down on sugary legs waving sticky little hands at the finishing racers... who's karts were made out of other kinds of candy and baked goods. Slipping between the stands and stopping like deer in the headlights, both Jak and Daxter found themselves frozen and dumbfounded by the scene before them. Under a lemon drop sun and cotton candy clouds, this was literally a world of sugary confections. Jak glanced at himself, well aware that his design hadn't changed a single texture file from what he knew himself to be for the title Jak X: Combat Racing. Daxter hadn't either; so why the hell were they here in a world that was so outside their pallet and style it wasn't even funny?

But there was something else here. Jak could feel it; something he'd been sorely missing since he woke up back in his garage.

He realized it when he looked up at the finish line. Behind it was a massive screen that displayed two things. One was a list of names and numbers; the placings of the various racers. The other was something that gave him a rush of relief.

The face of a player. The race had just ended, and one could only guess the player's avatar won because the boy wore a satisfied smile as he folded empty hands behind his head. From the screen it could be seen that the player was leaning back in a molded plastic chair, and there was a variety of machines in the background. Then, as he relaxed in the glow of his victory, he turned his head slightly to the left to address someone off screen. _"So how's your new player coming?" _

The response was not immediate, but it seemed the crowd's cheering dimmed to make the conversation easier to hear. The inhabitants of this game seemed to care what was being talked about. The racers, just across the line, killed their engines.

"_Still installing..." _A woman responded off-screen, sounding worn out. _"And because of Sugar Rush's random roster function he won't even be playable until tomorrow night when the character list resets." _

The boy on-screen looked surprised, and then a little scared. _"Woah, wait, does that mean the boss is gonna know we screwed with the game? I don't wanna get in trouble for your little experiments-" _

"_No, no!" _She cut him off. _"He'll be kinda like a ghost... normally he'll be a hidden file; disabled, not even capable of being part of the game's line-up. __**But**__ after hours we'll be able to plug in a little password and ta-da, I get to beat your ass with my favorite racer on your favorite game while we procrastinate the shit out of work." _

He groaned; a tired and frustrated noise. _"Can't you just bypass the thing so we can play him now, Captain Computer Whiz?" _

She responded in kind. _"Man, when working with these things... it's best to play by their rules. Push too hard and something blows up, and then we get fired for monkeying with the machines when we're supposed to be cleaning them and the rest of the arcade. Calm your tits, man, me and Jakkie-boy will beat you and Vanollope's ass tomorrow night." _

"_Yeah, assuming your elf-freak can keep up with the Mighty-Warpin'-Vanollope!" _The boy laughed, sitting up and then getting up from the chair, walking off-screen. _"I'm gonna get the vac and start finishing up... oh right, hey, what's the word on Fix it Felix?"_

"_Oh, some kid got pissed off and slammed his hand on it, broke the 'fix' button. Repair guy is gonna be in to replace it somewhere within the next day or two. Shoulda seen all the other kids when it happened; kids line up out the door to play that one, and now it's broke cause of one idiot with a temper... And the owner's being a grouch about it because it's his best seller, surprised he didn't take his money's worth out of the kid's hide..." _

"Alright gang, close up routine!" A voice called attention away from the screen and back to the track. "You know the drill! Keep the circuit warm till the janitors lock up!"

Jak and Daxter both looked back to the racers, getting several realizations at once, the first of which being that the racers were all _tiny_ little kids. As comic and cartoon-y as the rest of the world, these little boys and girls had small bodies and big expressive faces. As the order was given by one girl, all the others started their karts back up and faced their noses back down the track, darting off as the crowd went back to acting like they were cheering, but with much less gusto than before.

The girl who had spoken, as small as the rest with a black pony-tail coated in candy, had driven her own kart off to the side of the track. She was grinning, hopping up to the chocolate-covered cookie-spoiler of her kart and then pirouetting off of it, landing with a grin on her face and her hands out. After that she looked up at the screen, stuffing her hands into her blue hoodie. As far as Jak could tell, she was the closest to intelligent human being as he and Daxter were going to get, and she didn't look particularly busy at the moment.

Now was the time to ask questions. Stepping out from between the stands and approaching the girl, Jak resisted the urge to lean down in order to talk to her. "Uh... hey?"

The girl suddenly rounded, doing an extremely fast and complete spin before dropping her feet into a wide stance, staring up at the dynamic duo with wide eyes and an undecided expression. Just like her spin, this indecision didn't last long, morphing right back into a smile. "Ah! You're the newbies! And lost as peanut butter without chocolate, huh? Where'd you show up? You didn't come in the way people usually do, I got someone keepin' look-out there!"

"What the-" Daxter shook his head a little. "Slow down a little kid, you're gonna choke on your own tongue."

"Don't tell me to slow down, rat, or I'll report you as an infestation!" The girl snapped back, a wash of blue light hitting her and causing her form to pixelate and break apart. Jak couldn't help but jump as the girl _glitched_ and vanished... to appear atop his head to antagonize Daxter a little more directly. "What's an elf who's into racing need with a talking rodent, anyway?"

"Hey!" Jak protested, the girl's weight pushing his goggles down over his face. He reached up to snatch at her and knock her down, but she promptly glitched again to appear back to where she was standing originally.

"You snotty little-!" Daxter was irate, going on as Jak straightened his goggles back to their usual position. "What's got you acting all high and mighty anyway?!"

"I'm the head honcho in this game, Ratty, so you better mind your manners." She stuck her tongue out before going back to an impish grin. "I am President Vanollope Von Schweetz, and don't you boys forget it. Thanks to the gal out there, you're living in my game now, and as soon as the arcade closes up I wanna know how you measure up."

"You know about us?" Jak asked before Daxter could back-talk the girl.

"_Know_ about you?" Vanollope giggled, covering her mouth. "Lady out there never _shuts up_ about you, like she's got some crazy gamer-crush or something. After your racing game came out, Blah-Blah Racing or whatever, she says she just can't stand it with any other character... so here you are."

"Combat racing." Jak corrected. "So... you wanna take us on once the coast is clear, huh?"

Jak's mind had been blown by nearly everything he'd seen since waking up in the garage. The dead energy where he'd started, the castle the elevator had let out into, the candy-filled world and the worry that his creators might have gone bat-shit insane... but if there was anything in the world he was always up for, it was racing. That was his handle. As long as he could race, anything and everything else was simply wallpaper.

"My car is kinda stuck in the castle, but once you get it out of there... you're _on." _

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

HOLY CRAP

So I literally saw Wreck it Ralph last night, and this whole idea popped into my head during the credits. And usually random ideas like this just happen and go away, but this one stuck around which to me usually means its a good one... so here we go! A shorter fic about Jak (Jak X version) crossing over into the world of Sugar Rush and the arcade of Wreck it Ralph in general. I've actually written a fucking outline so I know EXACTLY where this is going, so let's do this shit!

MEOW

-Loor


	2. Destiny Switch

**I do not own Jak and Daxter or Wreck it Ralph. **

**-Insane Fangirl's Productions Presents-  
****After Hours-Destiny Switch**

"Wait, so you guys _never_ shut off?"

Vanellope and Jak seemed to be equally horrified by the idea as Daxter asked the question, though in different ways. The idea of never being off just seemed unnatural to Jak; in the same way he felt weird without a player being present. He expressed this with a shudder of distaste.

The little president, on the other hand, glitched her way up to Jak's unoccupied shoulder to stare at Daxter. "Why do you say that like it's a bad thing?!" She snapped at him, her voice tense and upset. "Being shut off, being unplugged, that's like- like dying!"

"Easy!" Jak winced; this little girl was heavier than Daxter and clung to his short hair with tight fingers. He was getting sick of being climbed on. "It's different for us; where we're from it's regular to be shut off."

"And it doesn't scare you?" She demanded. Still clinging she leaned out to look at Jak's face instead of Daxter's, one of her hands leaving his hair and grabbing instead onto his ear. Who knew such little fingers could be like vice grips? "That you might go away and never come back? That you might never see your friends again?" She stopped for only a beat, which was like a long silence with how fast she talked, before her eyes took on a gleam of admiration. "You two are crazy-stupid-brave! I bet you're _fearless_ racers, huh? Drifting blind corners on jelly-slick and doing anything to shave another second off the lap time! You're just the kinda guys we could use around here! The competition really needs a shot in the arm, y'know?"

"Whoa, whoa, kid, I ain't denying me and Jak are usually the baddest thing on the track, but-" Daxter hesitated, not sure if he wanted to correct her praise of them. Being shut off was perfectly normal to them; the idea of it wasn't a bother. A game would be played for a time, and shut off when it wasn't being played, and sometimes forgotten before played to completion. A forgotten game might be sold to another player, and live again in another system. The only fear, really, was getting broken or being thrown away... and there wasn't anything to be done about that stuff. If it did happen, it would happen while they were sleeping. They'd never knew if they'd be turned on again when they were shut off, but as long as the game wasn't broken it was equal chances either way.

That and they weren't used to having control. Free will, particularly to Jak, was a new thing.

"But what?" She pried, glitching again to sitting behind Jak's head, a leg on either shoulder with her fingers fastened around the leather straps of his goggles. "Don't think you'll fit in? Don't worry, we're used to The Creator's little experiments; granted this is the first time she's ever installed a new character into any of the games."

"The Creator?" Jak asked. He looked up to the big screen that loomed over the finish line; he, Dax, and Vanellope were waiting for the two people in the arcade to leave. As he stared he could see the dim image of a woman on the far end of the room, cleaning one of the machines outside as the boy who had been playing before operated a vacuum cleaner. Both were dressed in red t-shirts and black slacks; some kind of uniform. "The girl?" He asked, gesturing.

"Yeah." Vanellope nodded, her chin bumping the back of Jak's head. "She really loves games, and every now and then she tries to improve the games around the arcade. At first she was a menace, but she's been working here for a few years now and she keeps getting better. She's made a secret bonus track for this game, and I've heard she's done good stuff for most of the other games too... I think Ralph's game is the only one she hasn't messed with. Back when she started though..." She shook herself with such violence she nearly lost her hand-holds, fingers briefly pulling on Jak's hair again. "I don't think I'll ever forget the Lollipop incident; that was a _mess!_"

"Lollipop incident?" Daxter asked as Jak continued studying the screen. So this person was the reason he was here; in an arcade where the games were never shut down and the characters had lives and free will of their own. He had to assume that the game he'd come from, his original disk, had to belong to her. Had he been played by her? He didn't know. Now that he'd taken a moment to think about it he came across something disturbing.

He didn't remember being played.

"She tried to make a sky-track for this game entirely on floating lollipops, with boost ramps to get between them!" Vanellope answered. "Kinda a neat idea, but there were no guard-rails and there were mistakes in the design where you'd fall right through the course; even without human players messing us up none of us could get through it without falling off! Back then she didn't know how to cover her tracks, either. But I," She took on a prideful tone, "being the merciful ruler that I am, didn't want her to lose her job over the mistake, so I deleted the level myself before any of the arcade's gamers could see it the next morning." She then laughed. "Shoulda seen the look on her face when everything was fine the next morning; it looked like she was gonna cry!"

"Ha!" Daxter snickered. "But anyway, if you guys don't shut down when everyone is gone... what do you _do?" _

"Well around here we hold a competition to decide our line-up for the next morning; there's nine playable characters at a time and we shuffle every day. After that business is done with, it's open exhibition matches; no stakes, just speed and fun. Oh right, and you can always go to the station and visit some of the other games. I have friends that come and visit me here all the time, which is actually one of the reasons we're waiting around..." She sighed, looking at the screen herself. "You said your car is stuck in my castle, and I'm gonna need a buddy's help to get it out. I'm betting he's gonna come straight here, since his game got broken today."

"How do you...?" Jak tilted his head up, confused. "You're connected to other games?"

"Through the power." Vanollope giggled, entertained that she knew so much that they didn't. "I don't usually leave, mainly because it used to be that I _couldn't_ leave and I'm just kinda used to it... Plus I love my own world. I mean, look at this place! Speed and sugar, what else do you need?"

"Diabetes medication and sunglasses that filter out all the pink..." Daxter suggested in a low and somewhat disgusted groan.

"What was that?" Her voice turned sharp, looking at Daxter and glaring.

"Nothing, nothing!" Daxter assured, louder. "So you goof around all night, you get played all day, and you... _never_ get shut off?"

"I already told you, stink-brain!" She reached over to the ottsel to give him a couple knuckles across the head. "Are your _heads_ unplugged?"

"We're just not used to it." Jak reminded with a sigh. "That and acting for ourselves. We're either being played or off. Being allowed to just... _be..._ is a bit freaky."

"Oh, speak for yourself, hero!" Daxter spoke up to correct him. "You're almost always the avatar; I'm just attached window dressing that gets to cling to the spoiler while we're going a million miles an hour down the Seaport Strip! If I wanted to I could just take a hop off and sit at the finish line for the whole race and chat up someone else who ain't on the track."

"You could, but you don't." Jak pointed out.

"Well of course, it's my job to look after ya, big guy. Though, I gotta say it's nice not to be constantly on-script... I'm a programmed blabber-mouth, but I'm always stuck saying the same things!"

"That sounds terrible..." Vanellope rippled with another oncoming glitch-warp, bouncing her way back to the ground in front of the dynamic duo and looking up at them again. "No freedom, you never know when you'll be played again after being shut off, and no time to yourself..." She mused to herself for a moment before perking up again. "That's it! I'm gonna make you guys as welcome as I can! You're gonna meet all my friends, and we're gonna have the wildest welcome party we can get together! You guys get a whole new life here, it's gonna be so _awesome_ compared to your old one, so we're gonna celebrate until opening time tomorrow morning!"

"Right after you and I have a race, right?" Jak pointed out, making sure the little girl didn't forget about the challenge she extended.

"_Duh!" _She stamped her foot. "What do you think is gonna kick the whole thing off? Oh, I wonder if anyone from Ralph's game has any fireworks... maybe I can talk Bowser into a fire-show... Oh, gonna need Felix for clean-up for sure..." She'd gone to muttering to herself, making plans and completely forgetting about the boys as he began to pace in little circles.

"Jeez, motor mouth of motor city." Daxter snickered. "Hey, Miss. Sweet-Heart, you mind letting us in on planning our own party?"

"Schweetz," She corrected curtly, "And no- it's a party _for_ you guys, so I gotta keep as many pieces as surprise as I can! Ooh, what is taking those janitors?" She turned around to look up at the screen again. The two people cleaning had since vanished from view, and her posture changed as she grew hopeful. "C'mon, let's hear the all-clear Yuni..."

As if in response to the little girl's hopeful muttering there as a thud of a door and the click of a lock from somewhere off-screen. A few seconds were given where the world became silent for the first time since Jak had arrived, and a voice shouted out;

"_All clear, guys!" _

"Yes!" The pint-sized president pumped a fist, jumping into the air. "Alright, you guys just wait here," She said while landing and turning back to them, putting her hands out to emphasize. "Don't move a muscle. I gotta go take care of the shuffle-race, but Ralph should be here any second. When he shows up, tell him what's up with your car and he'll help you out, promise!" With that she turned to run; candy-coated ponytail flying behind her.

"Hey!" Jak shouted after. "How are we gonna know this guy when he shows up?"

She jumped to run backwards, grinning. "Oh, you'll know him! Don't worry, and make sure you're ready to race once the shuffle-race is over with!"

"...Y'know, I _always_ worry whenever someone says 'Oh, you'll know the guy when you see 'em.'" Daxter pointed out as the girl vanished into the stands around the finish line, the noise of engines creeping up as the various racers who had continued doing laps returned to the starting grid. "Don't even know what to look for, you know? Aside from a guy who sticks out from a crowd, of course, and sometimes it's not even that!"

Jak didn't even verbally agree with this partner, numbly nodding as he was stuck waiting and once again hit with his situation; he was alive. That girl had told him not to go anywhere, but the fact that he actually had choice absolutely bent his brain. As weird as it was not to have a player, he felt a stupid smile spreading on his face. He looked down at himself, then up and around at the world. Sure, it may have been weird and pink and crystallized in sugar, but Vanellope had told them that this world was connected to other ones. Maybe they'd all be weird, but he could explore them. No player. No puppeteer.

"Daxter... this is _awesome." _

"What? You that hyped up for one race with a buncha candy-coated kiddies?"

"No, _this." _He swept his hands. Racers were lining up on the starting grid as Vanellope could be heard making an announcement somewhere; Jak could only assume she was getting the shuffle-race started. There were actually a lot of different participants. There was also a whole world beyond the track, and a way to worlds beyond that. "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm really glad we're not in our game anymore."

"That's cause you don't get to talk outside cut scenes, brother. You don't think about saying stuff like... ever."

Jak found himself glaring at Daxter, wearing a pout that told the ottsel he was missing the point.

"Alright, alright, jeez... yeah, I suppose I could get used to all the pink. I'm _still _the smallest person in the room though."

"Have you tried measuring yet? Some of these kids are pretty tiny."

Both Jak and Daxter stiffened as they heard a voice behind them, Jak turning quickly only to get served yet another shock. He had turned around with the expectation of another person behind him, and assumed their face would be somewhere close to his level simply due to the voice. What he turned to see though was the chest of someone who was certainly best described as super-sized.

As far as humanoids went, Jak was used to being the shortest man in the room. It seemed to be one of his character traits that all the other men in his world were taller than him, and even some of the women. He was short. He got that, he understood that, and he accepted that. Now Jak had to accept that there would not just be people taller than him in this existence as well, but that they very well could be nearly twice his height. Craning his neck up to face the man who had spoken, Jak had to estimate the guy to be at _least_ eight feet... and that was with imperfect posture.

In the back of his mind, Jak referenced his own character bio and remembered he was 5'6".

"Dax... I feel your pain." Jak muttered, staring up with shock.

"Then what am I feeling?" The ottsel nearly whimpered.

"Like the world is a giant jungle gym?" The big guy suggested, wearing a grin that seemed to fit well on his face. Hey may have been a great big chunk of a man, but there was something very teddy-like going on. There was no doubt that he _could_ be dangerous, but at the moment it seemed as if he didn't want to be. "You two must be the newbies; just installed a little while ago, right?"

"How many people knew we were coming?" Jak asked while slowly relaxing out of his tense stance.

"We can all see and hear out of our games, and mine got broke today... not to mention The Creator hasn't shut up about you two since she started editing your code for instillation." He offered his hand, which Jak just noticed was freakishly huge. "Wreck-it Ralph, or just Ralph. Welcome to the arcade. You already meet Vanellope?"

"Uh..." Jak awkwardly participated in shaking hands, still a bit dazed by the guy's strange proportions. His own style wasn't perfect but _still. _This guy was almost a bigger anatomical disaster than Crash Bandicoot.

"Yeah!" Daxter piped up, handling introductions with a grin while Jak was still fazed. "I'm Daxter, and this is Jak, and that little kid is a nut!"

"Eh, more like a ball of Laughy-Taffy rolled in hard candy, but I get what you mean." Ralph shrugged while releasing Jak's hand. "Word on the street is you boys are here to race... though you look a little tall to fit in one of the karts they make around here."

"I brought my own car." Jak hopped in quickly, drawing the line at the possibility of having to drive one of those sugar-covered monstrosities. The idea of taking the Havoc V12 up against these kids soundly nearly unfair, but he'd rather unfair than sick to his stomach because of pallet clash. "When we were... installed, I guess, my stuff ended up in the castle. Vanellope said you'd help get my car out of there; she's already challenged me to a race."

"Excited?" Ralph caught the note in Jak's voice. "She's the best, you'd better take her seriously... or she'll be rubbing your nose in it later."

"I'm the best in my world, too." Jak shot back with confidence, cutting off Daxter before the ottsel could boast for him. When it came to racing, he didn't need the extra commentary. "Her turf, my car, it's _almost _even odds."

"Assuming you even remember how to race on your own!" Daxter teased with a grin. "Only time you get to go player-less is when the gamer picks a different avatar for exhibition."

"Hey, you're a programmed loud-mouth, I'm a programmed racer. This stuff is in my code."

"Ugh..." Ralph made a face. "Last time I heard that was when I was teaching Vanellope how to drive... woulda taken weeks for the bruises for heal if Felix hadn't fixed me up." He then turned and made a motion of his hand that indicated they should get moving. "C'mon, you two. Race'll be starting soon, and Vanellope will want her round with the new challenger as soon as that business is taken care of, so let's get that car of yours out and rolling."

Jak nodded, the three of them moving to get back to the castle, trotting to keep up with Ralph's big feet and even bigger steps. "Hey, what are the re-spawn rules around here?"

"Don't die outside your game." Ralph answered instantly. "You were installed in Sugar Rush, so you're safe here. I could crush you where you stand and you'd just get back up; reset to source code. Outside your game though, even in the station, you gotta be careful. Die out there and it's game-over for good. There's rules for vehicles in this world too; inside a race they'll re-spawn if destroyed, but outside..." He shuddered, as if at a bad memory. "Just treat your ride nice when you're not on the track."

"Speaking of..." Daxter pointed ahead at the castle. "That ride is currently a level down and behind more than a few stone walls. How are you gonna help us get it out?"

Ralph looked at the boys, wearing a grin. "Me? What I do best. I'm gonna wreck it."

Jak shot a look to the big guy, getting an image in his head of his vehicle in pieces and not liking the thought at all. "_What_?" He demanded.

"What?" Ralph chuckled. "Felix can fix the castle's walls later."

"...oh."

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Oh good Christ I just took a whole chapter to get through a single bullet-point of my outline. I love and hate it when I do this; I just get so into world building that a single point of plot (in this case, meeting Ralph and fleshing out the differences between console characters and arcade characters) takes a while chapter's worth of space.

MEOW.

Thank you to everyone who's already reviewing and faving! :D You are all AWESOME; I will do my best to keep updating in a timely manner.

Happy reading,

-Loor


	3. Back in the Saddle

**I don't own Jak, Daxter, Ralph, Vanellope, or any other copy written characters appearing in this work of fiction. I'm not making any money. This story is for entertainment purposes only. **

**-Insane Fangirl's Productions Presents-  
****After Hours-Back in the Saddle**

Getting the Havoc V12 out of the castle was actually pretty easy once Ralph got to work. The guy was massive, strong, and once he knew which way was the right way to get the vehicle out of the castle he set to work smashing a tunnel to the outside. Just like that, ignoring all that might have been in the way, there was a straight shot from where Jak's garage had been 'installed' to the road outside the castle.

"Remind me never to piss that guy off." Daxter had said at the time.

"Remind yourself." Was Jak's response, leaping up to the vehicle that had been waiting for him since they'd arrived. A strange euphoria hit him the second he slipped into the seat, feet knowing exactly which pedals to rest on. Warmth was bubbling through him along with the itch to have the wind in his face; he desired speed and enough G-force to slam him back into the padded leather seat, and the tension was rising as he sat there and began buckling into the complex seat belt. He knew how to drive; his eyes were sweeping the dashboard and gauges while an intangible memory reminded him what each one was. Speed, RPMs, the gear-shift at his right side, forward and rear weapon triggers on corners of the wheel, their corresponding displays currently dark while the vehicle still wasn't started... everything was wonderfully familiar here.

There was a stupid grin on his face, wide eyes as he reached for the ignition.

"Hey, hey, let me get on board first!" Ralph was coming back from his wrecking work, laughing almost nervously as he jogged through the way he'd smashed for them to get at least next to the car before Jak started it. "You run me over with that, I'm gonna have more than bruises!"

"Climb on at your own risk!" Daxter grinned, leaping away from Jak's shoulder and onto the exposed portion of the vehicle's frame above his head. "Jak, you think you got this thing under control? We're just gonna take it slow on the way out, right?"

Jak was still grinning like a demon, turning the engine over. It roared as he revved it in neutral. "Sure."

Ralph seemed to lose a little confidence in his previous idea of hitching a ride back to the track. "Actually guys... y'know, I might walk. I've been laying around all day, it'll be good to stretch the legs and all."

"Don't worry." Jak looked over. "Grab onto the back."

"Oh jeez..." Ralph wore a look that revealed his doubts, but he got on anyway, stepping around the back to climb up and sit with his feet resting over the rear fenders. Leaning forward and securing his monster hands on either side of Daxter's perch, he drew in a tense breath. "Alright... ready."

"No you're not." Daxter pointed out with a snicker. "It's okay, I'm never ready either."

Normally Jak would have defended his style behind the wheel, but he was too focused in on his own pleasure of the moment. Drawing in a deep breath fueled the excitement and anticipation of the moment; blowing it out and throwing the car into gear. The answering roar left the thrill of pleasure running through him, all twelve cylinders drumming out a beat as the vehicle shot off through the new tunnel. Daxter was yelling, but it turned to laughter. Ralph had reacted the same way, but he didn't laugh until they hit top gear and the sunlight outside.

The clash of pallets didn't bother him; Jak was too damn happy to be bothered by bright colors and candy. Hitting the road and tweaking the wheel back and forth in little movements helped him get to know the car a little better; how well it responded, where the limits were at speed, and how hard he could push before he risked a roll-over. Every pull and bump felt familiar, and yet enticingly new. He could smell oil and fuel over the reek of sugar, and if it were possible the grin on his face grew even wider.

It wasn't long before he threw it into neutral to coast up to the edge of the track, a race clearly in progress with karts zooming past. Coming to a stop and killing the engine, Ralph was back on the ground before they'd even stopped moving. The big guy was too glad to be on the ground, still chuckling a little with the rush gotten off of simply going that fast. His auburn hair was blown nearly flat to his head, comically popping back up to it's usual style after a few seconds.

Jak chuckled, leaning on the side of the cockpit. "Not the type of ride you're used to?"

"Not around here..." Ralph admitted, giving a truer laugh now that he wasn't fearing for his life. "I think even Vanellope might have trouble keeping up with that thing... I-I mean... wow can you even call that a car?"

"What else would you call it?" Daxter snickered, hopping to the hood and grooming himself; his fur had gotten all messed up by the wind. "Think these kids'll be able to keep up with us, big guy?"

"Keep up? Yeah." Ralph answered at first, standing a little straighter to stretch his shoulders back before putting a colossal hand on his hip. "Your data was modded to fit in this game; The Creator said so. The whole idea is you'd be fast enough to be evenly matched with Vanellope and her kart."

"So we're matched in speed?" Jak asked, cocking his head. Those little karts putting out that much oomph was tough to imagine, but different game worlds had different rules.

"Oh no, I'd pin you as a bit faster... just a little, but who knows? It might be enough. Speed is only half the game with the president on the track."

"Speaking of the pint-sized prez," Daxter rolled over, the hood of the vehicle warm. The ottsel seemed to be enjoying the sensation, pressing his belly to the metal. "She was talking about like she wanted to organize one hell of a welcome party for us."

"Hey!" Ralph had a sudden flare of temper and tone. "Watch your language, there's kids around!"

"What'd I say?" The ottsel seemed genuinely confused.

"She was making a pretty big fuss about it." Jak quickly took over before Daxter could start an argument; Ralph seemed like a powder-keg on legs... coming from a guy who was himself a powder-keg on legs. Took one to know one, he guessed. "Fireworks, friends, the whole thing. Hopping around all over the place. She wanted to keep us out of the planning though, and once she's out of this race she's gonna be up against me... Any ideas on helpful organizers who can get a head start while the candy-queen is preoccupied?"

"President." Ralph reminded them of Vanellope's actual title. "And... actually yeah, I know a few guys." Ralph had taken a backwards step, his feet getting ahead of his brain. "You guys have fun, and I'll see what I can do."

With that, the giant of the man turned to the track, looking both ways before quickly crossing it to go somewhere else. Assuming some orientations, Jak had to assume the connection point of the other game worlds had to be somewhere beyond the track in that direction. The castle was behind them, but it didn't seem to be the 'center' of the world. Granted, he didn't know that much just yet. He'd only been there for a couple hours. Still... curiosity was intoxicating. Being player-less wasn't nearly as scary an idea as it had been at first.

"This shit is weird." Daxter mumbled from the hood. "These guys go around like they're alive. _Human_, almost."

"Aren't they?" Jak answered. "They're all free-willed, they do stuff for themselves... they're here for more than entertaining gamers. They've got real dreams and hopes..." He let out a hallow laugh; that was more than he ever had. In a console game he was lucky enough to have a story that made some sense, but there was always the niggling feeling that even _he_ knew it was all make-believe. Real enough to him, sure, but even after finding out who the Precursors were, it wasn't like he was going to do anything with the information until another squeal was made... or at least a sequel that actually _cared_ about the core story of the world. Before that hadn't mattered, but seeing this playground made him realize something.

He'd never been more than his programming. Worse, it was all he knew. Even with memory of his back-story he felt like an empty shell of a character next to these more vibrant beings. Ralph clearly had a lot of history on his shoulders; he thought about stuff, he'd likely undergone growth that was never scripted into him. Vanellope had that same feel; she was bright and sassy, but she was beyond whatever she'd been created as.

"They _are_ alive." Jak reaffirmed out loud.

"Then what does that make us?" Daxter seemed to take a mild offense; the difference between these two different types of games was clear. If _they _were alive, it followed that he and Daxter had been something else. "I mean, sure, we'd been running on rails, but does that make us any less?"

Jak wanted to say yes. Yes, were different, less than alive, but that came with an addendum. His ambivalence ever-fading for the way things had been, he found himself agreeing with Vanellope's assessment of the situation. Being installed in this place was the best thing that could have happened to them. He may have felt empty now, but it was only their first day. Just because he'd never experienced personal growth didn't mean that he couldn't, and as Daxter had already demonstrated there was no script; in their old game 'shit' was something that would have never made it, even under the Teen banner.

"Maybe we were less before... but now we're free. Now we get to live too."

* * *

Vanellope wasted no time once the shuffle-race was over. She'd come screaming across the line in first, thrown herself into a drift, and knifed straight across the track in front of the other oncoming racers to get to where Jak had parked. Like Ralph, she'd expressed wonder at the beast of a vehicle he'd been installed with. Then, still grinning, pointed out it would be pretty embarrassing for him if she waxed him in her little kart. From there the words were short questions and answers of where to go; she directed him to the starting grid and got the eight other qualified finishers back on the track for an exhibition round. She and these eight kids would be the racing avatars for tomorrow morning, and all of them were still grinning with victory.

Daxter got up from the hood, moving to his usual place behind Jak's head where he considered himself safe during the ride. This was about to get serious. Vanellope herself was soon on the grid as well, the race announced and the count-down to the green light coming. Someone, with an incredibly boring voice, was making the announcements about the specifics of the race; one lap around the world-tour track to decide the new rookie's worth. The Havoc's engine was already rumbling, and Jak was strapped back in and staring down the track.

Just like before, he felt the tension winding up again. Revving in the grid, he heard an answering growl from all the others lined up for this race. There was more here than his love of speed; there was competition.

His left hand rested on the wheel, the right on the gear shift. He was aware of his smile this time.

The signal to go sounded, and he dropped the hammer with the full expectation to leave all these kids in the dust. He couldn't hear them over the V12, and looking around wasn't something he was going to waste his attention on. No, his eyes were pointed down the track and expecting hazards, shifting up through the gears with precision and grinning wider with each extra push of g-force that sunk him into the leather seat. Once into top gear he put both hands on the wheel, aware that he needed to keep a tight leash on this beast if he didn't want to roll or skid.

Ahead the track was curving up at the edges, entering a valley or canyon of some kind. Jagged towers rose up higher than Jak was willing to look, aiming himself down the lowest point...

When another vehicle dove in front of him, having gone up the slope and shooting down it again to rise up on the other bank of the half-pipe. Surprise was mild against his own speed-high, but he registered enough to know it was Vanellope. She was using the agile nature of her kart to get extra speed; pretty smart for a kid.

That was when the first hazard showed itself; the towers rising out of the valley had holes in them... which were dispensing what looked like huge gumballs. Gum-boulders, maybe. Ignoring the bright red color of the one he first saw, Jak instead focused on where it was going and swung himself out of the way, realizing that the track itself was going to be his enemy as well. Up on the bank he could see Vanellope on the other side, only slightly ahead of him. Noting the curve and incline of the track, Jak grinned as he found he had the inside edge; depending on how long this curve went he'd overtake her soon enough with her riding the outside.

Assuming she didn't get squished first; a green ball was heading right for her.

Jak wasn't able to directly watch, moving back into the center to avoid a blue boulder and catching a flash out of the corner of his eye. What had he just seen?

"She glitched out the way!" Daxter yelped. "No fair, she can warp!"

_'The whole idea is you'd be fast enough to be evenly matched with Vanellope and her kart.' _

_'Speed is only half the game with the president on the track.'_

It hit Jak as he swayed out of the way of the same ball that Vanellope had glitched herself away from; there wasn't anything _wrong_ with the kid, an accident in her code must have become an accepted ability... that would be horribly unfair for another human player using any other avatar against her. This wasn't just about being fast; it was about evening the playing field. Vanellope was sore for competition too; the other racers couldn't keep up with her at all.

Jak stopped being cautious; he'd been keeping his foot off the floor because he instinctively knew the V12 was a beast best not fucked with unless it was necessary. Holding just a little bit back that could be let loose on straights. Now he pored it on as he came back down the slope to the center of the track, gaining on Vanellope with a devilish smile still plastered on his face. They were still playing dodge ball, but there was one more piece to this puzzle that had him nearly whooping out loud.

There were power-ups on the track. He didn't care if they weren't the color-coded eco capsules he was used to; Ralph said The Creator had modded his data to fit in this world. He had no doubt something good would come from screaming through one of the cubes of light that floated so inconspicuously in a line across the road.

He and Vanellope hit that line at nearly the same time; she was in the lead but by a half-second at best. A glance was traded in the whipping wind out of the corner of the eye, and a note that Vanellope was wearing a smile quite similar to his own. When she hit the line of power-ups her vehicle flashed with white light, the shattered cube re-forming atop her rear fender as a type of cannon... only it was an ice cream cone. "Jak, what the hell is this?!" Daxter shouted as Jak ignored his peripheral vision to see what he had in response. Clearly that power-up had been for weapons.

Sure enough, his vehicle was processing for a yellow-eco weapon; something that would go out the front and give someone a serious head-ache.

The icon finally settled to tell him he had missiles. "Yes!"

"Jak, watch it!"

Vanellope had dropped back, likely to get a better bead on them and fire her cream-cannon. "Tell me when, Dax!" Jak shouted back, stamping the clutch and throwing his vehicle into neutral.

"Wha- NOW!"

A tap on the breaks was enough to let the hazard fly over their heads; an honest to goodness glob of ice-cream that Jak had no doubt would be as lethal as a shot from the peace maker. Vanellope zipped by almost at once, Jak getting back into gear and driving around the bombshell that still lay like a roadblock in the path. The upward incline of this halfpipe was getting steeper, making the acceleration back into top speed a slightly more strenuous task for the engine, but it was soon enough that Jak was gaining on Vanellope's tail once again.

And he was armed. He didn't hesitate, firing as soon as he got a green light on his dash, telling him he had a lock on her. He didn't wait even before the first set of two were launched before he hit it again; he was positive that she was going to dodge the first set. She had great reflexes and it seemed to be complete control over the glitch that allowed her to warp around. Sure enough, she saw the first two and vanished out of their way, finding her way to the outside of the track again as Jak curved inward, looking to overtake her again.

She saw the second set of missiles and reacted with a yelp. Jak watched as the first of the two tagged her, taking out a chunk of her spoiler and the right rear of the outside shell of her vehicle. She was gone before the second could impact, just inches out of the blast and still yelling from the sheer thrill of the danger.

Up ahead, the section of track ended as a jump. Jak settled towards the center for it, looking forward to the rest of this race. There was a great deal of air coming up, the next section being a winding path going up and then who knew what else. More power-ups, he was sure, but now wasn't the time to think about it. On a new track it was best just to keep his head down and learn it as he went, not speculate.

Hitting the air, he stole a glance at his competition. Vanellope was looking his way too. She looked elated; happy beyond happy.

Hitting the ground on the next section, Jak realized something with a grin; a lot of his rules were still in effect. That huge gap of air had given him a boost charge. An uphill spiral wasn't the place to use it, but it was nice to know that he'd still get the chance to drop the hammer.

This was getting to be a lot of fun.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

Another chapter down! Again, lot of time spent... just having fun. I miss the race track... /pout/ Honestly I haven't driven a car just on regular roads for like... three, four months, so writing this I actually sorta got a rush off of it. Is that wrong or what? Or does it just make it obvious that racing was big part of my upbringing? XD

What can I say? I love it.

MOVING ON.

Happy reading,

-Loor


	4. A Rat in the System

**I do not own Jak and Daxter or Wreck it Ralph. Sowwie. **

**-Insane Fangirl's Productions Presents-  
****After Hours-A Rat in the System**

"Not bad, rookies! That was a close race!"

"Close _loss._" Daxter moped in response to Vanellope's grin. "Who knew you could crank that much speed out of a candy-coated kart?"

"Whatever, shortie." She grinned waving him off. "This is what you get when you make the kart yourself from dough to decoration! You can't expect anything less when you put yourself into your ride. Still, that's the closest anyone's ever gotten to me during an exhibition run; that monster is pretty fast!"

"I'm sure we'll do better when we know the track a little better." Jak said, bumping his shoulder up to warn Daxter that arguing with a child was about as futile as someone arguing with _him._ Honestly, he and the president deserved each other. "The caves kinda threw me for a loop."

"What threw me was that ball of electricity you flung! What in the world was that?!"

Jak laughed; he, Dax, and Vanellope having pulled off to the side of the track to cool off after the race. She'd won, but as mentioned it was by a slim difference. Jak was willing to take the loss with grace; it was his first time on a new track. He was sure given time and practice he'd have her. "That's the peace maker. Goes straight for whoever's in first, and takes out whoever might be in the way. Nasty, huh? Makes me wonder though..." He turned to look at Daxter. "Think we still have the super nova?"

"Who knows?" Daxter shrugged. "Or cares? That one was a bit overpowered, even in _our_ game. Granted, it was heaven-sent if you had a bad start and got stuck at the back."

"Wassat do?" Vanellope was standing on the spoiler of her vehicle, almost jumping up and down with the post-race rush. "All of your weapons were so... _weird._ All metal and explosives; cool in their own way but around here it's just strange!"

"Blows up everyone in front of you on the track, delays re-spawn by five seconds." Jak answered. "Don't use it in ten seconds, and it'll blow _you_ up."

"Weird?" Daxter snapped. "Coming from the candy-coated queen of crazy land!"

"_President!" _Vanellope batted back. "Granted, I've been continuously voted into office for several years running, but that doesn't change the fact that this is a democracy! And what's the problem with candy? It all fits together; you two newbies are the ones who stand out like a sore thumb, and that ain't_ my _fault."

"Isn't ours either." Daxter didn't back down; the ottsel probably didn't know how.

"And it's not a problem." Jak stressed, trying to prevent escalation yet again. "C'mon, Dax, let's put this 'monster' away before Ralph gets back."

"Oh, you guys saw Ralph?" Vanellope asked as Jak turned to hop back into his vehicle. He wanted it properly put away before any sort of party started. "Where did he go? I figured he'd hang around for the race!"

"We told him about your party plans." Daxter turned on Jak's shoulder to face the girl. "He went to go get some assistance in kicking things off. Maybe you should go find him while we put this car back in the garage?"

"Assistance...?" Vanellope had one of her split-second pauses that indicated that she'd taken a moment to think. "Oh, of course! Right, we'll all meet you guys at the castle, so don't wander off!"

* * *

To say it had been one hell of a party would have been an understatement. Jak had already been introduced to a new world, and informed that it was one world of many, but to actually _see_ some of those other worlds was something incredible beyond description.

Waiting at the castle, as they were told to do, Jak and Daxter were soon met by Vanellope riding on Ralph's shoulder in very much the same fashion Daxter rode on Jak's, followed by a tall woman in shiny black modern-looking armor and a small man in a blue uniform and cap. A stylistic similarity was instantly noticeable between Ralph and the little guy; they both had a round and reddened nose, as well as builds that simply made one think of squares. The woman was the odd-one-out; clearly she was from the current generation of games. There was no mistaking high-definition textures.

Introductions were made quickly; the little guy turned out to be Fix-it Felix, and the woman Sargent Calhoun, though Felix rather tenderly called her Tamora from time to time throughout the night. He seemed to be the only one to get away with it. From there it was a trek out of Sugar Rush and to the connection point between all the games; the station.

From there, it was like the group kept picking up extras. They went to a game called Taps to get the night started with some drinks and food, where an outright announcement that Jak and Daxter were newbies was made. Like Ralph and Vanellope, many of the other characters within the arcade had known they were coming, but the actual event of someone new seemed to be quite the cause for celebration. Welcomes were rolled out from every direction for the dynamic duo to come visit the other games any time; questions were asked about the game they'd come from, and Vanellope talked about how they weren't afraid of being shut off.

Soon enough the boys were in the middle of a mobile mob that was jumping from game to game. Jak and Daxter were free agents, so to speak; everyone knew that during the day they had to be out-of-sight, but Ralph had been getting away with extras in his game for years. They could probably get away with a surprise appearance in any game that was too old for them to be recognized, or in a genre where the gamers wouldn't know them. Even Calhoun pointed out that in a suit of armor they'd probably get away with a day in Hero's Duty, though she felt that might've been a tad dangerous for a couple of boys that had their code lifted from a racing game.

Return trips were made to Taps, a stop made in Ralph and Felix's game where a block-party had already been arranged. Vanellope was running around, Jak remembered, Daxter disappearing with her. He'd been getting tugged around by Ralph and Felix, the two of them full of advice for getting along with others around the arcade, asking him questions about his game like all the others had. The most common question was about his ears, and he knew he'd explained that they were nothing special at least a thousand times by the end of the night.

There was another trip to Taps, and then things got a tad blurry. The good kind of blurry, Jak was sure. Daxter was still missing. He and a bunch of the guys, and girls, from a game called Street Fighter had made there way to a Dance Dance Revolution game. Jak had never danced, but that didn't seem to matter to the styled characters present. Awkward and quite possibly drunk on the atmosphere, he'd been compelled onto a floor of flashing lights and pounding music that blended into a kaleidoscope of insanity.

_Living. _He remembered having that thought. _This is living._

How many more hours he remained upright, Jak didn't really know. Whatever Taps was serving, it certainly had an effect on him equal to that of real alcohol... which was strange, because he clearly remembered Vanellope drinking the same thing as everyone else and simply getting more hyper for it. Perhaps it depended on each game character; he didn't know. He also didn't know why he was pondering the idea; maybe just to have something going through his mind as awareness returned to him.

Lifting his head, he found himself back in the lounge of the garage. He groaned out loud, squinting around the dim room and trying to remember how he got back. Had someone led his stupid-drunk ass back, or had someone carried him? He might have wandered back by himself, but he _seriously _doubted it as he rounded to sit up on the couch he'd been passed out on. His head hurt too much to imagine he'd been anywhere near coherent the night before, much less capable of finding his way from the station back to and through the castle on his own. Narrowing down the options of who was physically capable and knew where his garage was in the castle, Ralph would have had to been the one to carry him back to his 'home base' area.

Blinking blearily, he was brought to wonder; was it morning? Was the arcade open again, and everyone back to work?

"How you feeling?"

Jak whipped around, a hand reaching out for the nearest object he could use as a bludgeon as he looked up to where a voice had come from. Seeing as the best thing he came up with was a pillow, it was a good thing the person speaking was a friendly.

Looking totally out of place, sitting on another section of the circular couch, was Ralph. The guy was huge, and made the couch look like it came out of a child's play set. Either way, he had relaxed and rested his arms on floor that ringed the lounge pit... until Jak had moved to nearly assault him with a pillow. Raising his hands in a defensive motion, Ralph let out a tittering laugh. "Hey, watch it! You're jumpy for a racer..."

"Three adventures before that..." Jak muttered, putting the pillow down and occupying the now empty hand with holding his head. "The racing game was really more of a spin-off... all-around bad-ass, y'know? What are you doing here?"

"Jeez, you and your partner really gotta watch it... you may have come from a T for Teen game, but the arcade is an E for Everyone place, alright?" Ralph shook his head. "My game won't be getting repaired until tomorrow, and I didn't think it right for you to spend the whole morning all by yourself... No one likes being lonely."

"Lonely..." Jak snorted at the word. His own programmed back story made his prone to loner behavior, as well as begrudging heroics under the cover of a personal agenda. "You could say I'm used to it."

"Eh? But aren't you a hero?"

"T for Teen, buddy." Jak actually managed to make a joke out of the saying, chuckling. "In the second game, I was almost an anti-hero. Prison for two years, torture, biological experiments... If my code had been lifted from that game you'd have to watch your step around me; mad enough and I'd change into something nasty and rip everyone and everything apart. They didn't put that into the racing game, but the temper is still there... so yeah, I'm kinda used to being alone, even with Dax on my shoulder all the time."

"No kidding?" Ralph seemed surprised, but pleasantly so. "Talk about Jak-ed up."

The two shared a short laugh at the horrible pun that Jak knew he used in his own game. "But wait, is the arcade open again?" Jak asked.

"Yeah, has been for an hour I think..." Ralph shrugged his shoulders. "I came over after I heard the owner talking to the janitors about how the repair guy ain't gonna show up until tomorrow."

"Where's Dax?" Jak asked, looking around to make sure he hadn't missed the ottsel snoozing somewhere.

"Ah." Ralph gave a tight nod, as if he'd been avoiding talking about that. "Well, ya see... He and Vanellope got to talking last night... or should I say bickering-?"

"Where _is_ he?" Jak pressed, insistent on getting to the heart of the matter.

"The girls got him."

* * *

"Hey, Izzy... I think you may have a problem."

Isabelle had been spending her break behind the arcade, enjoying the sun while using one hand to shade her phone, texting a friend while a cigarette hung limply from her mouth. Both activities were given lethargic enthusiasm at best, but were also done with a particular finesse. Taking a drag and letting it out the other corner of her mouth, bobbing the stick of tobacco and paper to ash it with her tongue instead of taking it out of her mouth and wasting the cover of her hand on her phone. She knew she had a restock and clean of the girl's bathroom after this break, and Brett's voice triggered her to take another long drag while pulling her brown eyes away from her phone.

Brett was younger than her, just graduated from high school and working at the arcade while stalling on going to college. They were the only staff the arcade employed; the owner had run the a by himself for most of the place's history, but an up-tic in the popularity of a particular game had led to bigger crowds of kids and, in the end, more clean-up work than one man could handle in a day. Sandy blond and blue-eyed, Brett was the picture of innocence just waiting to turn into something rugged and handsome; something just had to scar him in just the right way. At this moment, those blue eyes were wide, his mouth partially open and his chest heaving with an almost panicked rhythm.

Tapping the lock button on the side of her phone and slipping it into her uniform pocket, Isabelle finally removed the cigarette from her mouth, taking her weight from the brick wall she'd been leaning on. "What happened?"

"You need to see." Brett pointed at the door to enter back into the building. "The Sugar Rush game..."

In an instant she dropped the cigarette and stepped on it, grinding her shoe for a moment and blasting past him to head back inside. Brett was left blinking at the destroyed indulgence on the ground for a second, shocked she'd stomped it.

She didn't even look back to see if he was following her, coming through the back rooms of the arcade to get to the game floor. It was still early, before noon, but there were plenty of kids around to enjoy the first few weeks of summer break and the freedom it promised every year that were also yet to break the habit of waking up early for school. Many of the early risers had come to see if Fix-it Felix Jr. was up and running yet, but their disappointment had only led them to other games, not to leaving. Already entertaining a small group of players was Sugar Rush.

Isabelle felt a forgotten yet familiar heat on the back of her neck; the fear that she'd made a mistake. She'd modified that game the night before, but she _knew_ she'd hidden the files that she'd installed. This wasn't her first day at the rodeo, she knew how to cover her trail now... but the look on Brett's face hadn't been for nothing.

Coming around to see the screen, she found two kids going head-to-head. Nothing seemed off; they were racing normally. One of them had Vanellope as their avatar, and was of course kicking all kinds of ass against the other human player, who had Taffeta. It was hard to compete against Vanellope's ability to warp around hazards; the only saving grace was that the player had no control over it. Isabelle found herself getting irritated; nothing seemed wrong, and she had just destroyed her only cigarette for the day. Nudging her way around the kids who were waiting for their turn, she leaned between the molded plastic seats to get a look at both screens, squinting for anything out of the ordinary.

When she saw it, she suddenly wished she hadn't stomped her ciggy.

Daxter was clinging to Taffeta's car. He reacted to the vehicle bouncing on the track, moved around, and even taunted drivers when passing or being passed. He was bright orange, so he fit pretty well with the pallet, but the fact was that he was _not_ supposed to be there.

"Izzy!" One of the regular kids recognized her; a blond girl with glasses who had been coming to the arcade since before Isabelle or Brett worked there. She was patiently waiting her turn, quarters in hand. Isabelle turned to her, blinking and still trying to get her head over the fear and shock. "Have you seen it? There's a cute little animal in the game now!"

"Uh... yeah... Brett just told me about him..."

"He keeps switching drivers; does he have an effect on the game?"

"Of course he does!" Called one of the players; the one currently playing Taffeta. "Why else would he switch around?"

"You're still losing, buddy." Vanellope's player laughed. "If you think that rat is improving your lap times, you're dreaming."

"So... you guys like him?" Isabelle asked, her heart thudding in her chest and her temples.

"Yeah!" The girl said at once, echoed by several others. "Even if he doesn't effect the game-"

"He totally does!"

Isabelle could practically feel most of the spectators rolling their eyes.

"Thank the owner for adding him, okay Izzy?" She asked. "It's neat how you guys are always improving your games; helps me talk my friends into coming back more often."

"Uh... you got it." Isabelle nodded, slowly backing her way out of the knot of kids and teens. "Have fun, guys!"

With that, she rounded. Behind her stood Brett, his baby-blue eyes still wide and worried. Jerking her head, Isabelle indicated it was time for them to go back outside.

She needed to salvage what was left of her ciggy before her head exploded.

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

And why yes, Izzy is a not-so-subtle homage to my favorite character in Digimon.

ANYWAY, moving it along. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and faved, let's keep it coming, yeah?

Happy reading,

-Loor


	5. Security

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter or Wreck-it Ralph. **

**-Insane Fangirl's Productions Presents-  
****After hours-Security**

To say Jak was less than impressed with his partner was an understatement, but fortunately for the ottsel Jak wasn't given even half a chance to get on his case about it. Jak had wanted to go and get Daxter when Ralph told him about what happened, but there was a reminder that The Creator had only hidden his files within the system. If he went by the track there was a chance that one of the players might see him. Daxter was small, and his colors kinda fit into the game; he'd blend better. Jak, on the other hand... not so much.

Instead, Ralph had spent the whole day with Jak, talking about life in the arcade and the history the place had, as well as a support group Ralph went to for villains. Apparently Jak wasn't the only one who had a rough time wrapping his head around the idea of free will, as well as what that idea did when contrasted with one's regular programming. Despite being a hero, he thought it might be something he might want to go to sometime, simply as a point of interest. In return, Jak told Ralph more about his own game, as well as the games that came before and the back-story laid into his code.

Throughout, Jak was antsy. He wanted to go after his partner, and he literally jumped out of his seat when closing time was called. It wasn't the all-clear; the janitors were still there and that meant that Ralph had to stay put for the moment, but Jak was free to go after his partner with a disapproving scowl and a visceral lecture in the works. Waving to Ralph with a promise that they'd hang out later that night, Jak entered the main garage and clambered into the Havoc; the fastest way to the track would be to drive.

As he got in, waiting for the elevator to clunk into motion, he got a strange feeling. Something wasn't quite right here. The elevator wasn't moving, and Jak got the distinct feeling that it wasn't going to move until something happened. Sitting there, already irritated and beginning to feel downright unsettled, he glanced to the side as one of the TV screens in the room flashed to life. It made him jump, his head jerking around to stare at it and forgetting his half-formed rant to Daxter about how their new life here was worth more than a cheep thrill. In the dim light of the garage the screen cast an eerie blue glow, bright letters on a dark navy background;

_Password:_

There was an empty box under the word, a blinking cursor waiting for an input of some kind. Ralph had noticed things weren't going as planned and entered the room, looking up at the screen while putting a hand to his head. "Oh... right! She said that last night, didn't she?"

"Who?" Jak asked, actually jumping this time as the feed reacted to what he said; the word he had spoken appeared in the box. A moment later the screen flashed red and the box reset; obviously that wasn't the password.

"The Creator." Ralph answered. "She said you and Daxter were installed as a hidden file that she password-protected. We can't get out of here until she puts that password in. Locked in... or at least, that's what it looks like."

"Couldn't you bash through it?" Jak asked while removing himself from the seat of his vehicle; that seemed to be the hot-seat for attempted passwords; the screen didn't react to him speaking when he got up and out of it. "You tore down like eight walls and more than a lot of ground to get my car out last night."

"Probably, but let's think about this for a second." Ralph suggested while putting a hand on the wall. "If we're locked in here, we can assume this _place_ represents your instillation files. It's code. I bash through this, who knows what I'd be wrecking besides some floor and the elevator? Anyway, we shouldn't have to wait long..."

"How do you figure?" Jak felt one eyebrow raising at Ralph; for a big guy he was actually pretty smart.

Both Ralph and Jak focused up at the screen as the cursor suddenly moved, something being entered into the box that was obscured by each letter being replaced by a blue dot. It was entered quickly, and the screen flashed green a split second later. Having been resting on the edge of the cockpit, Jak slid back into the seat of the Havoc rather unceremoniously as the elevator rumbled to life and began its descent. "Whoa!" He exclaimed, grabbing for the edges while staring up.

Ralph had come to the lip of the elevator shaft, shouting down at him; "She wanted to race with you, remember?"

Jak blinked; Ralph was right, he'd listened to that conversation the night before... which meant shit was about to get real. Strapping in and getting situated, Jak was ready once the elevator his the bottom, rolling over the engine and blasting out of the castle to head straight for the grid. He would have to save his reproach of Daxter for later; he had a player waiting for him.

Upon arrival he saw exactly eight other racers already lined up and waiting for him. At the front of the pack was Vanellope with Daxter lounging on the hood of her kart. Her spot in the gird was lit up in bright blue, _P1_ appearing as a label at the nose of her vehicle. The other front position, lined in red, was obviously waiting for him to settle into, similarly labeled and reading _P2. _

Pulling up, throwing it into reverse, and backing into the spot to have his nose facing down-track, Daxter made the leap between vehicles once Jak was in place and an electronic beep sounded to signal the acceptance of his place in the grid. "Miss me?" The ottsel teased, getting into his usual position.

Jak didn't speak at first; that electronic beep had been more than a signal; it was more like a link-up. With a jolt he was incredibly aware that he was no longer in control of his own actions. His limbs had gone ridged and cold, almost numb to him, as the rest of his body shuddered at the sudden intrusion. He'd become an avatar; a player-controlled character. After enjoying his new found free will for the past twenty-four hours, the feeling of it being taken away was actually disturbing.

"We'll talk later." He managed to mumble.

The race was about to start.

* * *

"Whoa, he is fast!" Brett exclaimed, surprised when Jak turned out to be more than capable of keeping up with his chosen avatar, Vanellope.

"Mmhm."

Isabelle's reaction was less than enthusiastic. This was the race she'd been looking forward to since last night, but it was clear that the experience was downright tasteless to her at the moment. She wore a look of determination and deep thought, her mind both on the race and perhaps a thousand other things, all at the same time. Either way, she was keeping up and, with the help of weapons, actually managing to pass into first and make a proper fight for it.

"So..." Brett made another effort at starting a conversation as the two of them raced; it wasn't uncommon for them to talk while they played. "What are you gonna do now?"

"Do?" Isabelle's face twisted up even more than it had already been. "I'm gonna beat your ass is what I'm gonna do; watch your corners before I blow you right off candy mountain, ya dunce."

"Izzy." He insisted, his own face hardening while serving her a glance that couldn't have lasted even a tenth of a second. "You _know_ what I mean. If the kids hadn't taken to Daxter suddenly showing up, it would have been your ass."

"But they did." She pointed out. "And they've noticed other changes I've made around here... they _like_ them. They like _him_. Think it's the neatest thing that there's a little orange fuzzy that keeps switching up racers. Some of them are obsessed with finding out how he effects the game, even though he doesn't... though it gives me an idea."

"Wha-" Brett paused, mainly because Vanellope had just been rammed by Jak's monster vehicle and sent right off the spiraling mountain part of the track. "Oh, you! Don't think you'll win that easy!"

"I told you I'd knock you off if you didn't watch it."

"You said blow." He batted back as Vanellope re-spawned, concentrating on getting caught up again.

"Blow, knock, whatever. Anyway, this game has serious balance issues, right? One of the reasons I wanted to install Jak to kick your ass... Vanellope as an avatar, she just has a straight-up unfair advantage over the other racers. Those kids searching for an effect that Daxter had on whatever racer he was with gave me an idea... what if he _did_ have an effect? Made a racer faster, or raised their resistance to weapons, or made them more likely to get more effective weapons, stuff like that? It might help fix some of the balance issues of the game." Isabelle sighed. "I don't know how Daxter ended up out here, but the players _want_ him to have an effect. If he does, maybe no one will complain..."

"You're really scared of losing this job, huh?" Brett asked as he moved up into second, getting back on her tail after crashing.

"I love games." She said simply. "This is my happy place. I want to stay here. I want to keep my job safe."

"Then why not delete them? I mean, I love just screwing around with you after hours, but is it worth all the stress?"

"The _players." _She stressed, allowing Vanellope to begin passing Jak on the inside as the caves started, moving to crush her into the wall once she was at the right position. Fortunately for Brett, the girl and her candy-coated kart choose that exact moment to warp out of the way, causing Jak to hit the wall instead and lose some speed. "It's all about the players right now; their reactions decide whether I live or die right now. They've seen Daxter, and they like him. I delete him and Jak; they notice he's gone and ask the boss about it, and my head is on a pike. On the other hand, if Jak somehow gets out in the same way Daxter has... or if they cause some other kind of problem with the game, the players complain, and my head is still on a pike."

"So... there's no way you can win?" He asked, moving in his seat as he maneuvered Vanellope around the stone pillars and open pits within the caves, missing a power-up while finessing his way through the most technical part of the track. "Either way, you're stuck worrying until your heart gives out."

"Yeah, basically." She agreed, wishing she had boost power. Instead she nicked the power-up Brett missed, grinning as she found herself with grenades. "Hey, man, how's your blog going?"

"What?" Brett gave her another lightning-fast glance at the sudden subject change. "Oh, that? Pretty awesome, I guess... I got all my underclassmen friends to subscribe, and they've been pushing it at school and stuff..."

"Who knew you could get high school kids interested in current events?" She laughed. "That and the personal life of Brett Corronal."

"I bet they don't even read the current events." He rebutted, voice seeped in embarrassed humility. "All they're interested in is the 'Guilty Pleasures' gossip column... or at least that's all they comment on."

"You've got half the town following your blog and you still won't be proud of yourself. What are you, Catholic?" She teased, her grin still covering her face as both of their racers shot out of the caves and entered the ice-cream mountains. With a clear shot and a flat bit of road, she fired away with the grenades.

"Oh, shit! When did you get those?" He swore as Vanellope's warp ability got her away from some of the assault but not all of it, her kart getting smashed again. "And it's just a blog, alright? It's something I update once a day and people decide to read it for some reason; why are you making such a big deal about it?"

"Cause I know you like it." She grinned as Daxter's voice came out of the machine whilst Jak took first; _"Mmm... buh-bie!" _The ottsel taunted. "What author doesn't love feedback? You really should go to school for that stuff; journalism or something."

Brett shut down suddenly, grumbling something along the lines of 'Yeah, well, I guess I could...' without actually forming any real words. "What about you?" He asked grumpily, shortly after. "You've been here like three years. Why aren't you going to college for art or programming or some shit like that?"

"Because the college I want it across the country and I can't afford to go there yet." She responded instantly, as if she'd memorized the excuse. "There's a college for game design on the other side of the frigging country; pretty much every amazing game you've played in the last decade, at least one of their graduates was on the team. Great classes, project-based curriculum, excellent program for finding internships, all of it... I've been saving up to move and to pay for tuition."

"... by working at an arcade? I'm getting minimum wage, and I'm sure you're not doing much better. Why not join the military or something and get them to pay for your schooling?"

"Because I'd rather work around games every day for the next decade to go to the best gaming school in the country than spend four years overseas." Again, her response was quick and emphasized as if she'd memorized it, even rehearsed it; maybe this was something she got asked a lot. Tension was also there, but that was because he was already gaining on her again; Vanellope's warp ability made her tough to stay in front of.

"And install your favorite characters into games that were never meant to have them." He pointed out, this tone turning to tease.

"Until they make another sequel worthy of Jak's name, it's all I got." She nearly snapped at him, shifting her line on the track to make sure Jak would crush over the next power-up; it was going to be necessary to keep Vanellope in check. "And be honest; isn't this more fun than just picking Vanellope and knowing you're gonna win without trying? The challenge is part of what makes games fun and engaging. If you always win, just by picking the right character, the experience is as rewarding as eating your own snot."

"Ew..." Brett shook his head at her somewhat vile way of making her point. He didn't get long to complain about it though; he was nearly on her tail and the finish line wasn't far ahead. He could see Daxter on the back of the oversized monster of a car she was driving on this little kart track, looking back and sticking out his tongue at Vanellope. "Buckle down, bitch, I've almost got you..."

"Says you!" Izzy shouted back as she suddenly moved over, clipping the front of the little kart as it inched onto her screen. "And mind your language, kid, the tough-guy act don't fit ya."

"_Shoot! _Dirty move!" Despair showed in his voice as they entered the home stretch and Vanellope was spinning out of control, killing all of her speed and landing upside-down, causing a few more vital seconds to be lost as she re-spawned.

"Shows you to mind your manners." She snickered, passing by the last line of power-ups without taking pains to get one. Jak was a blur, speeding towards a finish line surrounded by little cheering candy-people. She'd become intent on the endgame, grinning while her foot was glued to the floor, the roar of the Havoc V12 rumbling through the game's speakers and working the subwoofer overtime...

Only for Jak to take an ice cream canon shot and explode inches before the line.

"_Al la mode!" _The game announcer cried as Vanellope streaked by, the weapon still atop her rear fender as she took the lead and the win.

"Damn!" Izzy spoke with conflicted emotions. She was frustrated that she didn't win, but the race had been neck-and-neck. It had been anyone's game.

And Brett was laughing. There was a big, stupid, elated smile on his baby-face. This last moment of the race had made her point; games were more fun when victory was a goal you had to fight for; that was the point. Agency; doing it yourself and that accomplishment being worth something. Something this game lacked, actually. The kids still played it for the novelty of having new racers every day, but Vanellope was _always _part of the line-up and she was a trump card.

If only the others had abilities too that leveled the playing field.

Brett stopped celebrating his victory as Izzy went silent, peering at her seriously. "Whoa, whoa, what are you thinking _now?" _

"Huh?" Isabelle wore a look that said she honestly didn't know what he was talking about, her eyes vacant as her mind spat out a few extra RPMs.

"I _know_ that look, Izzy." Brett said with a suspicious frown. "You've got a new idea that's probably gonna dig a new hole for you, and you haven't even figured out how to climb out of the first one!"

"N-no!" She shook her head, putting her hands up. "This would kinda be _part_ of that; if I edit the other characters so that they have different abilities too, and then mess with Daxter's file so he goes to whichever avatar came in last in each race _and_ gives them a speed-boost, it would do a lot to make the player-to-player challenge more even, and more people could enjoy the gaming experience we just did. Think about the victory you just won; I haven't heard you shout like that _ever_ before on this game. You feel good, don't you?"

"Yeah, I beat you, and your little programmer's-pet." Brett grinned. "Now you can shut up about Jak being the best racer ever created, right?"

There was a beat of silence as she stared at him, a lethal glare coming from her brown eyes before she turned back to the machine. "Two outta three."

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

HOLY HELL, sorry for that people, I just vanished on you for a while, didn't I? Well I just got back from Christmas/New Year's vacation, but that's still no excuse! We need to get this fic back on the road, so to speak... I need to get Wreck it Ralph on home video so I can refresh myself on the details; as a fanfiction author I like to keep with the canon as much as I can, even with playing with OCs and such. More so, actually. When adding to a world, it's most important to get the world itself right first.

But, alas, I only have my single theater-viewing to work off currently and the Wiki-page to double check name spellings. . I apologize if I screw anything up, loves.

Happy reading,

-Loor


	6. Copied Code

**I don't own Jak and Daxter or Wreck it Ralph. XP **

**-Insane Fangirl's Productions Presents-**  
**After Hours-Copied Code**

"Dax, what the _hell_ were you thinking?"

The all clear had been sounded only moments ago, after many more races between the two janitors who minded the arcade at night. Their original challenge had been 'two out of three' but that had quickly changed to many more as their scores remained just as close as their races had been. In the end, 'The Creator' had come out on top. Jak didn't get why everyone insisted on calling her that; he'd no problem in catching and remembering her name; Isabelle. The other janitor's name was Brett, and it seemed the two of them were friends... and competitive gamers. The best kind of players, even if he found the feeling of being controlled extremely uncomfortable. Either way, once the two of them had called it a night, done their work, and locked up, he had killed the Havoc's engine and turned his attention to his partner.

He hadn't forgotten what Daxter had done, and he wasn't going to give up his lecture just because it all turned out okay.

"What?" Daxter returned with an innocent shrug. "Ain't my fault the ladies wanna spend time with this handsome mug!" With that he preened, grinning widely.

Jak growled, a lot more words on his mind, more as he'd listened to Isabelle and Brett talking over the races. He wanted to demand the ottsel think about what might have happened if someone had called the owner of the arcade; if someone had noticed that he didn't belong and called for an explanation. More than likely, they would be pulled from this game. Pulled from this new life they'd been given. Did he _want_ that to happen?

Still, as all that rage bubbled, he thought better of spitting all that bile. Daxter was his friend, and Jak new _exactly_ what probably happened. A bunch of cute little girls all wanted to pet him, he assured them there was more than enough Daxter to go around, and he ended up spending the day with a group of giggling tweens. There was no malevolence, and no greater stupidity than Dax's usual. He was just... being himself. Breathing deeply, he reached over and messed up Daxter's little set of goggles and the fur on his head.

"Damnit Dax..." Jak snickered, rolling his eyes and letting the rage go. "You're gonna make Tess jealous."

"Hey!" Daxter shoved Jak's hand off, straightening his fur with one hand while defending it from further mussing with the other. "She ain't here, Jakkie-boy... _man_ it would be fun if she were, though. Too bad we can't ask, huh?"

"Hey! You're not being mean to Daxie, are you?!"

Looking down from where he had parked, Jak found a small mob of the other racers had gathered up, most of them girls, all of them staring at Jak as if he'd committed an act of animal cruelty. There was a clear leader; a girl with a pastel pallet and an uppity stance, her hands on her hips as she stared up.

Jak blinked a few times before looking to his partner. "You finally gathered up your harem?" He asked sarcastically, citing a line from the second game that was programmed into both of their memories.

"What?!" Daxter shuddered at the thought. "Jak, that's disgusting, none of these ladies are old enough for that. No, no, no, this is the Orange Lightning Fanclub!" With that he leapt from the Havoc and into the waiting arms of the ring leader. "Don't worry kids, Jak and I go _way_ back. He owes me too much to stay mad for long!"

Jak snorted, waving both Daxter and his new found fans off. "Go have fun, fur-ball."

"Try to do the same!" Daxter called back, already getting pet from four different directions, a laugh on his voice.

"...right." Jak muttered, his gaze wondering back to the giant screen that had displayed the players' faces before. Something Daxter had said struck a cord in his mind.

_'Too bad we can't ask, huh?' _

"Not bad, newbie!" Vanellope laughed, having left her own vehicle to come over and climb up onto the Havoc, standing with her hands on her hips and a grin on her face. "Looks like She got you over here without any major game-play glitches... and it sounds like She's got even more ideas to up the competition."

"Has She always been like that?" Jak asked, leaning against one of the sidebars and cocking his head to look crossways at Vanellope. "You'd think if She loved this job so much, She'd play it safer."

"Don't worry about stuff like that." The pint-sized president waved a hand. "Gamers talk about their lives all the time while they play; we can't help them besides entertaining them! That's all we gotta worry about."

What she was saying made sense to him... but a frown still tugged at his face. That girl out there, Isabelle... he owed her this new life of his. Somehow, he felt like he had to do something to show how grateful he was. Maybe that was something in his code; a more complex character from a more story-oriented game that made him want to return the favor, even if she didn't know what she'd done for him. Then again, all of the characters around here seemed plenty complex too, and all of their codes were pretty basic. "You look out for her." Jak pointed out, recalling the story she'd told before about fixing bad attempts at game design. "You cleaned up after her so she wouldn't lose her job."

"Well, that was a special case." She shrugged with a carefree smile. "And what kinda benevolent ruler would I be if I didn't make exceptions sometimes? Still, it's kinda a rule that everyone gets; you don't mess with the player. _Ever. _Worrying about them just isn't worth it; you start listening to their problems and feeling bad for them, sooner or later you're going to want to try and reach out and help, and we _can't._ All we can do is help them have fun and forget whatever might be bothering them."

"Someone's sounding a little more mature than usual."

"Stink brain!" Vanellope rounded at the sound of Ralph's voice, the big guy finally coming out now that the all-clear had been sounded. She leapt from the Havoc to Ralph's shoulder, messing up his hair as she scrambled to hug him around the head.

"How'd things go with the little guy?" Ralph asked, noting the less than happy look on Jak's face, and the fact that Daxter was not present.

"Alright." Jak shrugged. "The players like him... and I don't think I'm going to get him back from the other racers anytime soon. For now, it seems like everything's okay."

"Just okay?" Ralph asked, his tone mildly suspicious as well as concerned.

"He's worrying about the Creator." Vanellope explained, sitting on Ralph's shoulder with her feet kicking. "I was just telling him to forget it."

"It's just weird." Jak tried to explain. "Everything's so new. I didn't realize free will came with so many rules."

"The safety of the game comes first." Ralph said sternly. "The worst thing that can happen to any game is it getting unplugged; anything that could make players complain, or just confused, is something to avoid. Vanellope's right; it's better not to listen to players talking about their problems. The worst thing you could ever try to do is _talk_ to a player. I mean, c'mon, Jak, even if you came from a different _type _of game, those rules seem pretty common-sense. It's two different worlds, and there's a line you just don't cross."

"You're talkin' to mister fearless here, though!" Vanellope pointed out, her voice trying to add some levity back into the conversation. "Jak ain't scared of gettin' shut down; he's _used_ to it."

"Still don't get that..." Ralph shook his head, the very idea confusing.

"A player can get so far and just forget." Jak's tone didn't improve, nor did the look on his face. "Take the disk out and leave it to gather dust for months, or never pick it up again. I guess I was lucky to get moved."

"Wonder what happened to your game..." Ralph commented. "What was it like?"

Jak didn't answer right away, taking a moment to think about it. What had his game been like? He knew it was a racing game; he remembered the story it told and the tracks he raced on, the cars he drove and the people he met, but when he tried to think about what the game itself was _like..._ he realized something. "That's weird..." He blinked, frowning. "I... don't remember being played." He shook his head. That couldn't be right. No doubt the copy of his game he'd come from belonged to Isabelle, and she knew him too damn well to have never played it. She'd handled him and the Havoc like a pro, even in an unfamiliar setting. The feeling of the car under him was too familiar to him for him to have no history, no experience. He _had_ to have been played at some point...

But he couldn't remember it. If he thought about the instance where he'd been under player control, that feeling had been completely new to him. He knew the story he'd come from, but he couldn't remember acting out any of the scenes. He knew the faces and actions of his fellow characters, but no memories of ever interacting with them entered his mind.

He shook his head, getting out of his vehicle. "I need to go find Daxter. Where were those kids taking him?"

"The other racers?" Ralph glanced back; they were long gone.

"They tend to wander until the shuffle-race is announced." Vanellope answered. "Shouldn't be too far, but what's the problem?"

"I don't remember _anything_ from my game being played... I know what it should be like, but there's noting really there."

Vanellope and Ralph traded a glance, and Vanellope hopped down. "I'll get a move on with the announcement to get everyone back."

* * *

"What was our game like? Really, Jak, you pull me away from the kiddies for this?"

"Do _you_ remember anything?" Jak demanded, looking seriously at his partner as they stood on the side-lines, the shuffle-race in progress. Dax stood on his shoulder while Jak found himself in one of the spaces between the candy-box stands, leaning against the colorful wall with his arms crossed over his chest. "Because I don't, and it bothers me. That girl out there, the Creator or whatever, loved us enough to put us in here. She looks like the type to play a disk until the reading laser runs it through, and I don't even remember the _tutorial." _

Daxter shrugged, the ottsel hardly bothered while Jak seemed to be losing his mind. "Don't need to remember. We do what we do, Jak. You know how to drive, I know how to talk my way into and out of anything, and we're both _here. _What's the point of getting bent outta shape because you don't remember being played?"

Again, Jak didn't speak up right away. He seemed deep in thought, only some of what Daxter was saying actually getting through to him. "I need to see our data, our code. There's something strange here... we should remember being played. I think we should... I know what our races are supposed to look like, but I don't remember running them. I know the story we're supposed to present, but I don't remember doing any of it. Keira and I-" He broke off, his frown only deepening for the thought. "I don't remember... my game _has_ been played, me and her should have run through that kiss so many times I should be sick of it, but I don't even remember how her skin feels!"

Daxter turned a little tense, shaking his head. "They're sensitive about code monkeying around here, buddy." Daxter warned. "Apparently someone was a real jerk with it once... They keep this game's code locked down tight, and only the little princess is allowed to get at it with like at least three witnesses with her or something like that."

"I don't need to get at _this_ game's code, just ours." He shook his head, waving a hand while thinking about something he and Ralph had talked about earlier. "And like _we've_ ever cared for the rules. You go and have fun with the others; I'm going to go find out what I can." With that he stood up off of the wall and turned so that Daxter was close to the lowest edge of the stand; with a hop he was able to climb up and look back down at Jak.

"Tch, trying to work without me?" Daxter snickered. "That never goes well for you."

"You're still helping." Jak pointed out. "Keeping the others occupied and out of my hair."

"Gets easier every game, with how it keeps getting shorter. D'ya think they'd ever let ya grow it out again? It made a good hand-hold."

Jak snorted, waving off his partner and turning to get back to his car; he'd moved it off of the track for the shuffle-race, and if anyone asked where he disappeared to he could just say he was putting it away. As Ralph had mentioned that morning; the garage was probably home to his and Daxter's source code. Somewhere in that room, no doubt not far from where he'd first woken up, he'd find his and Daxter's data. He'd take the Havoc back to the garage, find what he was looking for, and be back with some answers before anyone was the wiser.

The drive back was easy, and the vehicle elevator clunked into action automatically. Arriving at the top Jak killed the engine and hopped out, walking into the lounge and taking a quick look around, trying to remember how it had been when he'd first arrived. He'd been standing in the middle of the room, which had felt depressing and disturbingly lifeless. That feeling was gone now, though the lights still remained oddly dim. Stepping down to the circle of couches, he started turning and scanning the room.

If there was a place that would hide the raw code that made him up, where would it be? He felt like it would have a room or space to itself, but besides the garage and the lounge he couldn't think of any other rooms included in this place-

_The door!_

He looked up to the door he'd tried when he'd first become aware of himself; it hadn't budged when he tried it, but if he remembered properly he'd first come around _during_ the instillation process. Files tended to be locked down during instillation or editing, so it would follow that they would have been impossible for to him to get to upon arrival. Moving quickly, he saw no harm in trying, reaching out when the door didn't move automatically.

At once he felt a difference; the last time he'd tried it had felt as if the door had been backed or even attached to a concrete wall. It had felt solid, just part of some impassable barrier. This time, the clear sound of a hollow space hit when his hands thudded upon the surface; there was something beyond now. A quick inspection led him to believe this metal portal was a sliding door that, in his game world anyway, would usually be automated. Without power, it was unlikely he would just bash his way through it... but there was more than one way to move a door. Gritting his teeth, he forced his fingers into the seem between the two halves, a grimace of pain turning to a grin as he managed to get his hands in between the two pieces and start pushing them apart. They were heavy and resisted, but in a few moments he'd managed to push his body into the space. Back braced on one side, one foot and both hands on the other, he hefted the way completely open with a final shove, letting off a short shout with the effort.

Once open, the door stayed as it was. Jak let his head hang down to his chest, panting for a second before getting back to the task at hand.

Looking into the space beyond, he was filled with awe by what he saw.

The door opened into a black void that seemed not to be bound by the rules of gravity. A mass of objects floated in the space, far from where Jak stood, slowly turning as if they were a huge model of some incredibly complex universe. Each had an inner glow, ranging from blue to pink, with thin wires connecting them all together. Each and every one had at least ten connections leading off to other pieces, many with multitudes more, making a grand ball of stars and constellations that all slowly turned in space.

The place where Jak stood was _far_ below this mass, too far to make out any fine details about the objects. All he knew is that there were so many... it seemed to much for just him and Dax, even if he included the garage and the Havoc. Squinting, following the little glowing connections, his eyes eventually started tracing a path down to a location that was closer to him. The most light had come from the greatest grouping of these things and of course called the most attention, but given time he eventually re-focused on something else; a handful of these floating objects were close enough for him to see clearly. Two of them glowed a bright sky blue, a few others a more subdued shade of green, as well as inoffensive shades of purple. They all shared numerous connections with each other, routing back through one of the purple ones, through which all the connections led back up to the main mass above.

Jak didn't leave the doorway; leaning out and away from it he didn't know if the same zero-G would apply to him... and if it did, he worried he wouldn't be able to get back to the portal he was standing in. Or, worse, it would close behind him. So instead his hands remained tight on the door frame, his body leaning out as he tried to see what was in front of him. These things floating in space... they were files; code, bits and pieces that made up this game. He had to assume the main mass, up above, were the original pieces of this game. These other pieces, the ones closer to him, were doubtlessly his own files. His efforts revealed him to be right soon enough; each one was clearly labeled with what it was for.

His efforts also gave him all the answers he was looking for. The two bright blue rectangles, hanging close to the center of this little mass, were character files. One was his own, the other was Daxter's.

They, along with all the others, had one thing in common. A bracketed prefix in every title.

[COPY]

* * *

**The Author's Corner**

HOLY SHIT I HAVE LEFT YOU GUYS HANGING WAY TOO LONG.

There are no excuses. I'm sorry. Let's just get this shit moving again.

-Loor


End file.
